PHOENIX, AZ—DECEMBER 28, 2019—Clearly the best, Pirate Coves Hero defeated Dashing Katt by 1-˝ lengths Saturday afternoon to win the $12,700 Turf Paradise Quarter Horse Championship (not black type) at Turf Paradise. Streakin Pr finished a neck back in third.

Coming off a fourth-place effort in the Grade 1 AQHA Bank Of America Challenge Championship at Albuquerque in his last start, Pirate Coves Hero completed the 440 yards in :21.748 seconds, to equal 98 speed index into a 19 mph crosswind. Emilio Tapia had the riding call for trainer Jesus Olivas.

Pirate Coves Hero races for owner Julio Villar Torres and the $7,638 Championship winners' purse boosted his lifetime earnings to $101,636. Reliance Ranches LLC bred the 5-year-old Valiant Hero gelding in Oklahoma from the Feature Mr Jess mare American Feature.

Runner-up Dashing Katt, a 3-year-old Oregon-bred daughter of multiple stakes sire Dashair, earned $2,464 for finishing second. Kevin Lewis trains the brown filly for owner Dally Yarbrough. James Boyle bred Dashing Katt from the Swiftest Goer mare Blue Skirt. She has earned $15,201 off a (21) 1-5-4 record. Jake Samuels was up.

Multiple stakes winner Streakin Pr picked up $1,232 for third. Eloy Navarro trains and Luis Valenzuela rode the 6-year-old son of leading sire Corona Cartel from the Streakin La Jolla mare Bonnie Streakin. Jose Mendoza owns the bay gelding who entered off a win in the Allred Brothers Stakes on November 16, his last start. Pine Ridge Farm LLC bred Streakin Pr in Oklahoma. He has earned $203,370.

Perfect Az Can Be, Cartel Bad Boy, L Bar D Classic Trip, La Rusa and Volcano completed the field. Jess A Cowboy was scratched.